Working smarter over the Web

The benefits of more effective collaboration using your own Workspace

Running a small business is an exercise in multi-tasking. Often, staff have to be multi-disciplined and try their hand at everything from sales to finance.

When you've got so much going on, it's hard to get a clear, fast and accurate view of various business functions, or of the organisation as a whole. Typically large companies have huge software systems to manage these functions and processes, and the resulting workflow. SMBs don't often have that luxury - the cost is prohibitive and the solutions aren't flexible enough to cater for their specific needs.

What's more, with the trend towards flexible/remote working, the situation can seem even more daunting and unmanageable. Given that technological advances mean that staff can (and increasingly do) work from anywhere, maintaining control over specific activities and projects is a difficult task - particularly when partners and suppliers also need to be closely involved.

The Web has changed all of this. 'On-demand' applications, where users log onto hosted applications over the internet are becoming increasingly popular, particularly amongst small businesses who prefer their subscription-based pricing models and low up-front investment.

This means no initial expenditure on costly software; reduced risk due to a low, predictable pricing model; no worries about management and downtime; and guaranteed backup for all files and data.

Added to this, web-based applications mean that it's easy for users to log on wherever they have an internet connection. So when they're out of the office or at their desk, the experience is identical - all they need is a password.

To help small businesses take advantage of this trend and gain the associated benefits, BT Business has launched its latest tool designed to make it easier for SMEs to run their business.

Called BT Workspace, the web-based system enables employees to manage company-wide information like accounts, sales opportunities, contracts, events and documents, giving the whole team visibility of sales opportunities and customer support tasks. Importantly, it also backs up critical business data and documents daily.

In addition, the tool allows organisations to get rid of one of the biggest administrative issues they have - email clutter. By sharing a single file and updating it centrally, users can make sure everyone is up to date and looking at the same version. This means no more emails with large files swamping your mailbox. Everything is centralised.

Collaboration is a business buzzword, but tools like this can actually deliver real, tangible benefits in this area. They achieve this by allowing the management and control of projects through collaboration with suppliers and customers via extranet functionality. In short, the ability to extend use outside the company to trusted suppliers, so it's much easier to work together.

There are two versions of the tool: BT Workspace Lite, which is free for two Project Workspaces, two company Workspace users and 10Mb of storage, and BT Workspace, which starts at £7.50 (excluding VAT) per company user per month with 100Mb storage each.

For more information, please go to www.bt.com/workspace